“No.”
“Then why?”
He hesitated.
“I loved you.”
I almost laughed.
“You loved me while hiding the biggest secret of my life?”
“I thought the past was better left alone.”
“No.”
I stood.
“You decided that for me.”
Anna suddenly spoke.
“Mom.”
I turned toward her.
“There’s one more thing.”
Her hands were trembling.
“What?”
She looked at Rick.
Then back at me.
“When I found William, he told me something else.”
My heart began pounding.
“What?”
She couldn’t speak.
So she handed me a document.
I read the name.
William.
Then mine.
Then Anna’s.
I looked up.
“What is this?”
“A DNA test.”
The room seemed to disappear around me.
I read the result again.
Then again.
My hands went numb.
“Anna…”
She was crying.
“I didn’t know what else to do.”
I looked at Rick.
He had gone completely pale.
“Is this real?”
Nobody answered.
Anna whispered:
“William is my biological father.”
I couldn’t move.
For eighteen years, I had believed Daniel was Anna’s father.
Daniel had held her when she was born.
He had taught her how to ride a bicycle.
He had stayed awake when she was sick.
He had packed her lunches.
He had loved her.
